Zooming in on Human Growth

Abstract

The careful documentation of human growth is essential in order to define what we call normal growth, so that we can detect as early as possible when something is going wrong with the growth process. Auxologists, the scientists that specialize in the study of growth, also need high quality data to advance our understanding of how the body regulates its own growth. It may come as a surprise to learn that human growth at the macro level that we see in our children is not that well understood.